LUCKY 7 MEME

After making the decision to crack down and enforce strict disciplinary measures (no fb, twitter, etc) until my edits are complete, Wham!— an irresistible challenge hits my inbox. I sat conflicted, then decided allowances must be made; the project does, after all, require me to work in said manuscripts. 🙂

Meme: an idea, behavior or style that spreads from person to person within a culture.

The Lucky 7 Meme is fun game between blogging authors, where the one tagged uses specific guidelines (see below) to select a tiny portion of his/her WIP (aka: work-in-progress) to share with their readers. Afterward, seven more bloggers are linked in a post to carry the torch forward.

These are the rules:

Go to page 7 or 77 in your current manuscript
Go to line 7
Copy down the next seven lines/sentences as they are – no cheating
Tag 7 other authors

I ‘m restructuring two books, and have two WIP’s. Lumen is the first novel of my StarDust Saga. Depending on which medium I count from (Word.doc vs Scrivener), I have two choices. I can’t decide, so I posted both. They sort of go together, anyway.

FROM LUMEN

1. Mirah gave the air an experimental sniff, and leaned, breathing deep, tasting the flavor of the day. Her eyes shut. “Yes, oh, yes.” She spit the pearl from her mouth, clasping it in her hands. Her lips stretched wide, plumping ruddy cheeks. “Husband!” she called, moving inside. “Hob–”

She stopped, at once wary.

A stooped woman waited in her path, dimmed by the reach of Mirah’s long shadow. The woman pointed at her, shaking with anger. “You. I know it was you.”

Note: Mirah Mahone, a lemming enslaved by the dark reaper, has seen the glowing strands in the Arianne’s hair—a clear sign the young girl is a Lumen. She and her son, Renzo, conspire to snatch the child from the care of her guardians. False charges are levied to keep Dan Keller behind bars, leaving his wife, Copper, and Ari without protection:

2.“Listen to me, you can’t stay in town,” Dan said (to his wife, Copper). His gaze shifted across the jail to where his accuser gloated. Dan white-knuckled the bars of his cell, imagining the younger man’s throat within his vice-grip, then let go. He forced himself to swallow the anger. He would not give Renzo, or his witchy mother, satisfaction for the damage done. “I need you and Ari to hide until you can get on that train—lock yourself in the apartment and don’t come out.”

“Danny, the next train doesn’t leave until Monday—and I can’t ride a horse.”

He gave her a bemused look. “Yes, you . . . never mind. I don’t want you on the road alone, anyway. Give me a minute.” He mulled their choices, then gestured for her to draw nearer. “This is what I want you to do,” he said, and whispered the instructions.

My second WIP is Book II of the same StarDust Saga, titled WITHOUT. I see the beats need to be fixed, but we are to post without corrections, so . . .

Earl is a very minor character, a weight-challenged, drug lord’s lackey who accompanies the protagonist, Rhys, into the WilderForest. Earl’s job is to protect the interests of his boss, Quake, during an exchange for a highly unusual drug. The problem is that the citified Earl is a bit out of place and more of a hindrance then a help.

FROM WITHOUT

Earl edged sideways, mincing his steps between unchecked slides down the incline. A yawning, black hole awaited where the cabin door should have been. In his nervous haste, he tripped over the threshold, and grabbed at the framework, fumbling for purchase. The rotting timber crumbled like cornmeal in his hands. Earl groaned in disgust, and wiped the sawdust on his coat before entering. Inside, the dark loomed without welcome. He fidgeted with the in his pocket until his eyes adjusted, then relaxed, relieved he’d arrived first. A moment later, he felt the other presence in the room, an indefinable heaviness without sound. Fear crawled over his skin, and he mouthed a silent curse for the forest dweller’s ability to come and go like wraiths.

For my seven who shall be tagged, I picked seven authors whose blogs/writing I enjoy reading. Please check them out.

First, a shout out to the guy who sucked me into this post: with 4 novels under his belt, Vaughn Roycroft writes historical fantasy— reinventing legendary mythology with his own brand of feudal tribes, kings that make your knees knock, and kick-azz women warriors. His blog has a great earthy feel that feels like a portal for his intriguing world

Without further adieu, here are the next seven victims:

Heather Webb ~ will soon be publishing her historical fiction novel titled Josephine: The First Empress. She’s a gifted editor and her blog has a little bit of everything in it.

Nicole L. Bates: has the ability to pour her soul on a page and take you places only she can imagine. Her blog is full of poetry and beautifully written moments captured in time.

Bethany Meyer: I can’t stop laughing as I read Bethany’s candid, humorous blogs about her life with five boys. A modern day Erma Bombek in the making.

Shelley Souza: is always one of the first to lend thoughtful advice and give expert craft help in our writer’s group created by WU.

Rebeca Schiller: has the voice of integrity and conviction when she writes. She recently accepted a challenge to blog each day through the alphabet, and chose the McCarthy era as her subject. It is poignant, thought provoking stuff.

Melissa Amateis Marsh: Forgive me, Melissa, I drafted you from the WU group as I read you are just getting back into the swing of things after a long absence—here’s an opportunity to jump in with both feet.

Elyse Draper: has written several fantasy books “in a visceral writing style that is both melodious and uncluttered.”

There is no obligation to play, and if you don’t blog you can put your seven lines in the comment section here or in the comments for the facebook link to this post.

Wishing everyone a great week!